toneysixers

Eric Gordon is very talented, but he still has a lot to prove. His injury history handcuffs his reputation (vs Westbrook, Love, etc) and also with getting a max deal. Demps should look back at the deals Wade/LBJ, etc made when they approached the end of their rookie contracts. They signed extensions for 3 years (?) to become unrestricted FAs. In this scenario I might even overpay Gordon slightly but NO would only be on the hook for 3 seasons. With this scenario they might want to draft a shooting guard at some point during that 3-year periold.

I like Davis at No. 1, but at 10 you just take the best player available. If that's Rivers then great. When I saw that he measured in at 6'5" at the draft combine that made him more attractive to me. I'm thinking Okafor will be around so with Smith and Ayon there isn't the need to go big big again.

Thought you guys would find this interesting. Former Tiger baller Jordy Hultberg hosts a morning radio show in BR area. He had Rudy Macklin on this morning. Fans all want to see Alleva hire the “right fit.” Macklin says there is no perfect coaching candidate. The guy would have to “fit” in when he got here. Bertman came from Miami, Saban is a W. Va native via Michigan St and Miles (OSU). However, Macklin said there is no doubt that LSU is Johnny Jones’ dream job. Jones knows the people and local coaches and could hit the ground running. LSU might just be another job to the other candidates. Macklin/Hultberg say rumor is if Jones does get the job they could flip a player (Gathers?) and the kid overseas (Gert Hammink’s son) would come. Shavon Coleman (Thibodeaux/juco) has said he is waiting on the hire.

Macklin said Reggie Theus called him to ask for his support should he get the job. They played together in the NBA. Macklin said Theus, who has family in Minden and New Orleans, really wants the LSU job. Macklin’s allegiance is to Jones, but he and Hultberg have no doubt that Alleva will hire a great candidate. Macklin says his role as a former player in the LSU program is to support the coach, whomever it is, when called upon. Hultberg agreed. When asked about Collis Temple. Macklin professed his love for Temple as a brother, but said Temple’s role is not to tell the coach how to run the program. Great discussion this morning.

Bobby, if Trent Johnson had 5 years left on his LSU contract he wouldn't have left LSU. TJ had one guaranteed year left. You couple that with Hamilton, his best player graduating with eligibility left, getting married and wanted to be a pro. Then consider the only signed committment in recruiting was Morgan (although I think he would have gotten Shavon Coleman and Hammink's kid from overseas). That adds up to TJ coaching for his job next year. He was fortunate that TCU called. They offered him 5 guaranteed years. We all know 5 is more than 1. That's a deal any one of use would take.

Courtesy interviews to pacify Brown/Temple and Martin, the chancellor. If Alleva likes either of them maybe they get another looksee, but I doubt it. Amaker probably shouldn't be a suprise since he is a Duke alum and Alleva was AD there. However, I would like Jeff Capel better than Amaker if Alleva was looking at former Duke players/assistants. Capel is younger (37 vs 46) and has done more at VCU/OU than Amaker has at Seton Hall/Michigan/Harvard.

Local radio said earlier today that Brett Reed from Lehigh was on campus yesterday/today, presumably to discuss the gig with Alleva. Recall, Lehigh upset Duke in the NCAAs this year. Alleva is a Lehigh graduate. Here’s a link to his bio from Lehigh site.

Jamie Dixon, Scott Drew, Reggie Theus, Johnny Jones, Josh Pastner (34 years old) are the names out there that I see mentioned the most. No to Jones, not sure about Pastner. Theus is interesting (NBA, Pitino connections), but Dixon and Drew would probably be homerun hires.

One more name I would like to see considered: Jeff Capel. Hard to believe he isn't 40 yet. Capel is 37, but he has won at two previous stops. Capel was at VCU from 2002-2006 (79-41 overall, 50-22 conf) and at Oklahoma from 2006-2011 (96-69, 37-43). At VCU he finished first, 2nd (2x) and fifth with a NCAA and a NIT. At OU his best finishes were 4th (NCAA rd 2) and 2nd (Elite 8). Capel has recruited at a high level. He signed McDonald's All Americans Blake Griffin, Willie Warren, Tiny Gallon and Tommy Mason-Griffin at OU. He coached a USA Basketball (U18) team with Austin Rivers and Kyrie Irving to a gold medal in 2010. He assisted on another team in 2005. With that said, it ended ugly at OU. There was the asst. coach who was fired for paying Tiny Gallon's mom $3000. And Warren (as a soph), Gallon (fresh) and TMG (fresh) all left school too early after the 2009-10 season. His 2010-2011 team was another young team with 7 of 8 fresh/soph accounting for 70 percent of the points when he was fired. Overall, he was 27-36 the last two years at OU. Capel spent this season back at Duke as an assistant with Coach K. We all know he was an All-ACC player at Duke. Alleva was a longtime AD at Duke. So, LSU could get a former elite player, a young coach with valuable coaching experience. Thoughts?

There isn't a whole lot I have to criticize TJ for. That SEC championship team he coached lost three or four players to the pros (Thornton/Chris Johnson/Temple/). For whatever reason he didn't capitalize off of that run as much as he could have during what was his first real recruiting season. Because that next season with Tasmin Mitchell and Bo Spencer as anchors there was a drop off. He has made gains in recruiting since then. He has signed Mr. Basketball players in Stringer and Derenbecker along with Turner who were all Top 80 recruits by ESPN. You can ding TJ because Derenbecker didn't stay. He followed that up by signing Hamilton who turned into 2nd team All SEC player, O'Bryant (a McDonald's All American) who played on under 18 USA teams as a jr/sr and Hickey (SEC Freshman team). Two weeks ago LSU was two bad games from a top half finish in the SEC. They were that close. They have turned the corner. If there is a grand slam hire of a coach out there for LSU to get then by all means go get him. Otherwise, TJ has proven he is a good coach and at worst a solid recruiter. I believe he will get the players to get LSU over the hump for next year.

After you get past the emotion of losing the face of the franchise in Chris Paul, this is a good deal for the Hornets. Would you rather lose him for nothing after the year? I almost would take Eric Gordon straight up for Chris Paul because I think Gordon has that much upside. He's 22 and averaged 22 points last year and he defends. He's on the verge of being an All Star. Kaman is a former All Star and Aminu was a lottery pick last year. The Minnesota pick will be a lottery pick too. Even if Kaman leaves after the season that is big money to chase a free agent.

Derenbecker does have SEC talent, but they have to argue that Derenbecker didn't have talent to bolster their argument that Trent Johnson can't recruit. If you put any credence into the Gatorade Player of the Year Award the kid was the best player in Louisiana for two years. He was recruited by most of the SEC schools (outside of Kentucky) and other BCS leagues. He was a Top 100 recruit by several lists. He started virtually the entire SEC season and had a good enough freshman year to suggest he would be a valuable contributor during his career. Forget that he played at Country Day. Derenbecker leaving hurts because good outside shooting was in short supply last year. With the anticipated improved post play from Hamilton and O'Bryant he probably would have posted better scoring numbers this year because he would have received more open shots. Is the guy a pro? Maybe, maybe not, but he had a solid freshman year with better things to come.

After reading another article on this it seems to me that the kid got into some trouble. Maybe not a legal situation, but it suggested that he wasn't taking care of business. The quotes are from his dad.

"It's just basically he has to work on properly prioritizing his life to succeed as a student-athlete."

Later: "It's sad. He's enjoyed his time at LSU, and this is not something he's relishing or looking forward to having to go through. Be he understands why he's having to bear it."

Finally: "Coach Johnson and LSU as a whole gave Matt every opportunity to excel as a student-athlete, and my wife and I truly appreciate that."

It is Trent Johnson's responsibility to get players, and I think he is doing that. TJ did sign Ralston Turner, Andre Stringer and Matt Derenbecker who were all ESPN Top 100 players. Jalen Courtney was the other signee who wasn’t seen much. Turner was an All-SEC Freshman Team pick despite missing games due to injury. Stringer (a starter) and Derenbecker (in the rotation) showed enough to suggest that they will be big LSU contributors. This year, TJ brings in Johnny O’Bryant, a McDonald’s All American and Anthony Hickey who is Kentucky Mr. Basketball. He beat out other SEC schools for both. John Isaac (before he ripped his ACL) was a top 100 recruit in his class nationally and must have been a stud if he got an offer from John Brady and committed to LSU as a soph. TJ continued to recruit Isaac even after the knee injury when Isaac fell off the recruiting radar. Throw in transfer Justin Hamilton who averaged solid, if not spectacular numbers at Iowa St. If he replicates that in the SEC he gives LSU something no one else has – a 7-footer who can play. This offseason there haven’t been any significant losses, there is returning talent, experience, depth and youth with the recruiting class. That hasn’t been around since before TJ got there. This is the year that LSU should turn the corner.

I actually think Tim Floyd is a good coach, but if he is such a GREAT COACH what in the hell happened with the Chicago Bulls when he was there? Answer? He didn't have players. Get Trent Johnson some players and LSU will be fine. That first year - players! The last two years? Not enough players. After two years he is finally starting to get some. Since that first year with Marcus Thornton, G. Temple, Tasmin Mitchell, Chris Johnson, Bo Spencer, et al, LSU has had to replenish the cupboard. Four of those players are playing pro ball somewhere (Thornton, Temple, Johnson on NBA rosters) and Spencer probably would have been worth a few more wins on a young team last year but he didn't stay on top of his books and got bounced from the program. TJ lost 3 pros from the first team. One pro and the best returning player the next. This year, no one of significance has left the program. They will turn the corner this year.

I thought Spencer's college career was over. He'd been on and off suspension for academics since TJ got to LSU. If you will remember he talked about several guys having "things to take care of in classroom" not long after he was hired. Makes me wonder if there was more than just academics in play here. Either way I guess TJ has had enough of Spencer.

Johnson basically inherited the recruits the first year, so this is really his second recruiting class. The consensus is that it's a top 25 class, better than his first. No can't miss or top 50 players, but no chopped liver either. Three of the four freshmen were easily top 100 players and at worst should be contributors based on recruiting grades. So, add them to the returnees and there is depth on the roster which Johnson hasn't had. I think they'll be good up front. Storm Warren is coming off a very good year (12 ppg/7 reb) and Malcolm White is an experienced starter in the SEC (7 ppg/5 reb at Ole Miss). Both are juniors. Dennis Harris and Eddie Ludwig played well at times as freshmen and figure to be more consistent this year. Garrett Green has a year of playing after back surgery, so maybe he makes more strides. If freshman Jalen Courtney makes himself a factor look out. How good LSU will be depend on play at point guard and on the wings. Losing Spencer really hurts, but Bass can handle running the team. If Andre Stringer can challenge Bass for minutes, then you get a guy who may be able to replace some of Spencer's scoring. Out of Dotson/Derenbecker/Turner someone needs to consistently make shots. LSU is on the upswing. How good is to TBD.

One incident a career makes? By all accounts it was waaayyy out of character for Johnson. As for recruiting, he got the Lopez Twins to Stanford. They were high school All Americans, and both will be first round NBA picks. Johnson coached Kirk Snyder and Nick Fazekas at Nevada. Both are in the NBA. There are several other guys in the NBA from his Stanford days as an assistant such as the Collins twins (New Jersey and Utah). I'll admit Johnson may not be the "sexy" hire, but I think this is a solid hire. He's experienced, has rebuilt a program at Nevada and had good success at another high major program in a major conference. Even with Randolph leaving, I say he gets LSU back to the tournament next year with the talent coming back.